Excel 2002 problems opening files over network

[Daniel F]

Hi,
I??m currently upgrading some windows 98 (some office 97 some office 2000) computers to brand new Compaq Evo??s with windows XP and office XP.
The problem is that we have excel worksheets stored on a file server but sometimes when opening a worksheet on the new computers you get an error message stating that this worksheet is locked for editing by user xxx (representing the last user to open the file) although that user has closed the file long ago and this persists until reboot of the user who is said to have the file open.

I have applied SP1 for windows and SP1 and 2 for office XP but it does not fix this problem.

Best regards,
Daniel F.

[Roger Faucher]

Daniel:

Although it's not an exact match, under the conditions you describe, I would be inclined to test this on one of the failing machines.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327764

Roger

[Jon Finley]

This looks like it may apply:
It has to do with the type of record locking being applied and how to change it.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812937

Jon

[Daniel F]

Hi,
Roger: Unfortunately this does not apply as I have brand new computer that have never had earlier versions o
f office software installed.

Jon: I??m currently trying the solution you suggested and followed the guidelines on this link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;296264 which was linked on the page you suggested.
I created the OplocksDisabled REG_DWORD 1
key in the registry (sorry I didn??t mention my fileserver is 2000 SBS) and I have not yet been able to reproduce the problem but I??ll give it some time into the day and see what happens.
I??ll let you know what will come out of all of this.
Best regards,
Daniel F.

[Daniel F]

Hi,
the problem is still there,
I tried opening one of the files several times and it worked fine at first, opened without lag and all good. I waited for a couple of minutes and tried again and then I got the message that "the file was locked for editing by Daniel F." (me)and if I would like to get notified when he (I) stops using the file, read only or cancel and after that if I try to open the file it takes about 1 minute trying to open and then I get the error message "cannot access xxx" (xxx being the filename)
I also tried adding the key

EnableOplocks REG_DWORD 0
(neither of the registry keys I??ve mentioned existed) but no luck.

Best regards,
Daniel F.

[Jon Finley]

I'm anal, so I have to ask.... Did you reboot after making the registry changes?

Jon

[Martin Byrne_3]

Greetings,
We are having a very similar problems with one of our clients. We have applied all known patches, removed all forms of power saving modes on the Evo D510 - created new spreadsheets (to verify the problem was not a compatibility of pre 2002 versions. We have also had the same problems with Word documents. All networking has been checked, including replacing the server NIC. This site is a small 5 user site.

Happy to try any suggestions.
Regards

[Daniel F]

Hi,
Yes Jon I did reboot after the changes but I still have the problem.
The machines I have are Evo D510 too, think this might be hardware related?
Best Regards,
Daniel F

[Roger Faucher]

Daniel:

There are 4 configurations of the D510 (Small Form Factor or SFF, Convertible Minitower or CMT, Micro desktop, and e-PC). I will assume that you have an SFF for now, but please try to clarify this issue.

There are several things I would check if I were you. If you're running XP Home Edition, I'd be very concerned about that depending on my network configuration. I would ensure that the NIC drivers are at Rev. 5.40A (if it's a 3COM 3C90x NIC). The driver is available from: http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/evodesktop/us/index.html
where you'll have to enter your model number and OS to get to the correct list of drivers/updates.

While you're there, I would suggest updating anything that's downlevel but especially, the BIOS RomPaq V2.20A and the Intel Chipset Support V4.10.1012A.

If your Hard Disk is 137GB or larger, grab the "Large HDD Buffer Cache Fix for WINXP"

I hope something here helps.

Roger

[Daniel F]

Roger,

Yes, I have the SFF machines.

I am running XP pro and I have the Intel NICs and latest drivers for those.

I have updated RomPaq and Intel Chipset support.

Only 40GB disks.

No change